


Point Away

by prussianniebs



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-02
Updated: 2016-05-03
Packaged: 2018-06-05 20:35:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6722413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prussianniebs/pseuds/prussianniebs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone has a moving arrow tattooed on their wrist pointing toward their soulmate AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cover Up

Growing up, life had never been kind to him. He had a mother who lost every job she got because she would show up drunk half the time and so they had to move around. He wasn’t the oldest or the youngest, so it felt like nothing fell on him. He just coasted and he hated it cause he couldn’t do anything about it. 

Maybe that’s why he fought those kids so much…so hard. Those….fucking bullies that thought they could get off on making fun of his family. No one gave a shit that he got in trouble all the time, and they sure as hell didn’t care when he was making side cash for them when he street fought. 

After 6th grade was when he started wearing bandages over his arrow all the time. It didn’t make sense to care about it when he knew he’d never find them. He had a course set out for his life and with all the moving there was no way he was going to find them before enlisting, then he’d be long gone from anyone it could be. He assumed it would disappear or stop eventually. 

And it did! Once he left Earth it stopped and he was grateful, there was no more tickle when it moved and he could even unwrap the bandages thanks to the armor. He didn’t exactly get along with his squad members but he didn’t get in fights as much. Then Freelancer came along and he finally had friends. Or the closest thing he could call friends besides his sisters.

He still wore the bandages when he took off his armor. Their arrows were a topic of discussion some nights, especially the first night he arrived. He was the newbie so they had to get their teasing in. 

That night he learned that Carolina and York’s arrows pointed at each other, but that was something no one ever talked about unless they brought it up. That was the reason they avoided the topic some nights, nights when the director was especially harsh and Carolina stalked alone. Those nights anyone that followed her risked multiple broken bones. Only York could maybe get to her after a few hours.

That night he also learned that Main’s arrow had disappeared. No one knew the full story, just that he would get a distant look in his eyes and a sad smile if anyone pointed it out.  
Florida had apparently once gotten it out of him that Maine had met his soulmate before enlisting, but something happened and they died. 

It wasn’t exactly a subject Wash liked to talk about either, so he was never the one to bring it up.

North’s and South’s had both stilled. Wash had seen Connie’s move position, but had never seen it actually move. Wyoming never showed his and he’d never seen Florida without armor on. 

Wash was happy here. He felt content and he felt like he belonged in one place finally.

But then Tex showed up and it was all downhill from there. Carolina went competition crazy and Connie betrayed them and died. 

Then he got Epsilon. For a while his arrow started to fade and the fact that that scared him…scared him. He had never cared about it before, why the fuck did he now?! The name Allison echoed through his mind and the screams of Epsilon drowned out any words or retaliation he could possibly think up to keep himself sane. He woke up twice while in the med room but had to be sedated from all the screaming that he realized was no longer just in his own head. 

But when he finally woke up and his head wasn’t tearing itself apart, he was all alone. He sometimes forgot his own name but when he asked for any of the name he could remember, not a single one showed up. 

But they would never leave him? Not after he finally found a family? He trusted them, most of them, and he supposed this was just another reason he covered his arrow. Which had appeared again and seemed to be stable. Wash started scratching it, he wanted it off. He couldn’t stand the fucking sight of it. His vision blurred and he looked around the small room for something, anything he could use to get the stupid goddamn arrow off his skin. 

He spotted a scalpel and reached for it but found someone standing in his way. He looked up and saw the Counselor staring down at him with those steely eyes. 

Everyone left, he was told. Everyone had left him behind. South and Wyoming were still there, and it would be up to them to find the others that left. Maine turned into the Meta and he turned against the Project, attacked Tex who had also betrayed Freelancer, and Carolina was dead. Wash blinked a few times and let the tears out. But soon they stopped and so did he in a sense.

Soon Wyoming was gone too, disappeared without a trace. He hid his AI and took the equipment. Him and South, Wash grimaced. Of all the Freelancers South had probably been the one he had been least close with.

Don’t get him wrong, he had liked her…back in the day. Even joked around a bit together, but they seemed to resent each other for staying. Neither wanted to be there still working for Freelancer but they had missed their chances to leave. 

Then Wyoming was dead. Then York was dead. Then South killed North. Florida had been missing for years. Maine was attacking everyone and taking their AI and equipment and it had been up to Wash and South to stop him. Just another thing Wash fell short of. 

The fucking frosting on the cake was when South betrayed him. Because why not? Everyone else had. He had no family, never did and when he tried it crashed and burned. All of the Freelancers were gone. Alpha was destroyed along with all the other AIs.

But then Epsilon survived. Wash and Epsilon, the last Freelancer and the last fragment AI. It was fitting. He teamed with the Meta to find Epsilon and get out of jail so he could move on with his life. Maybe he could go back to war and be killed in action.

But those fucking Reds and Blues. They were insane and had the strangest luck he had ever seen. He didn’t care about them so he shot the pink one and took the maroon one and the purple one hostage. How none of them had died yet was a wonder. And Tex had known them! 

He was also irritated for another reason. The minute he landed on that weird planet, his arrow had started back up. He covered it as the first thing he did when he got out of his armor…and then he kept his armor on as often as he could. 

Having to follow Caboose and the other idiots into the desert was a great time. He loved when things happened in exactly the worst possible ways for him. He had little enough patience for the purple guy they now had on a leash, then they found Connie’s armor- not like that was totally unemotionally damaging.

Epsilon it turned out was put inside of alien tech and had a laser face. That he liked to shoot at Wash. That night while Maine and their hostage were sleeping he took off his armor on his arm and the bandaging, and he looked again at the arrow that was faintly moving back and forth pointing towards the now crumbled wall. He would forget about that when he had to follow them even further…to Sidewinder.

Then the Meta betrayed him-them. He should have known he would be too tempted by the power at hand when faced with an AI while his suit still had all the equipment he couldn’t use. Luckily he was a pro at killing his friends…or the people he used to call friends, at this point. 

He was just too tired, somehow he escaped death every single time, just barely missing a major artery or along those lines. He didn’t even want to watch when Sarge hooked Maine-the Meta to the car and he may have actually closed his eyes when the jeep was pushed over. But they flashed open when he heard two of the Reds calling for each other- something had gone wrong and this had been his plan. These guys, as annoying as they were, didn’t deserve to die. They weren’t even involved, they just got caught up in the shit.

He passed out while they were bringing orange guy back up. Maybe he would finally die here- they would leave him or shoot him where he lay. Either really would be a mercy after all he did to them. 

But then he woke up in different colored armor and the UNSC guys were being told that he was dead. Had he actually become Epsilon now? Maybe there had never been a David. 

They took the AI unit much to Caboose’s dismay and when the soldiers finally left he looked at the colorful soldiers surrounding him. He didn’t understand.

Then the turquoise one he’d never really seen before spoke up. They switched his armor to save him. When he asked why, Tucker…that was his name Tucker said to even up the teams now that Epsilon was gone for good and because Caboose had…wanted him there. But he spoke with constriction, like he was keeping something from Wash. Probably his disdain for Wash being brought in, after all- he was a killer.


	2. Not that Hard to Figure Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A shorter chapter, or i guess not, they just feel short  
> anyway the next one will be out super soon  
> sooooo enjoy!!

Tucker was the last one to meet the new guy. Well, formally meet- like see the guy with his helmet off... and conscious. Caboose wouldn’t shut up about him when they were running from him and when they were waiting for him to wake up. Tucker kind of wanted to shoot the guy on the spot. He’d had enough betrayal and backstabbing to not want to deal with this guy. He may not like putting up with Caboose and the Reds, but they were still something of a pseudo-family, especially while Junior was away, and this guy would just fuck it up.

But then Caboose kept going on and on about how much he liked the guy and he HAD helped them out when the Meta attacked them. He could have just nope-d out and left, especially when he was a wanted man. Still didn’t mean he liked him.

Not much time passed after they returned that Carolina showed up. He got to know the stuck-up dork a little bit, but not enough to completely trust him. He was still no Church after all. Church who was dead, who was an AI and now was another AI based on that first AI who was based on the lunatic Director of Project Freelancer according to Wash. 

There were certain times that he could get Wash to talk, when he started to feel like maybe they could be comfortable together- all of them- as a family. Talk of their arrows was never a good idea, well that’s not true. Maybe once in the entire time they were in Valhalla did he get Wash to say anything about his tattoo. And it was that he never looked at it, and never wanted to look at it, that he didn’t care about whoever it was at the end of the arrow journey.

Tucker only mentioned that he knew his was on the planet, because he could feel the tickle and then he could see it move when he slept. It didn’t take long for Tucker to realize it was pointing at Wash. But after the way Wash talked about his arrow he clearly didn’t want anything to do with any soulmate, so he never brought it up. Besides, why would he want to be with this asshole, paranoid, hot as shit ex-freelancer anyway? It would just cause him and Junior trouble.

Then Carolina came and they got Epsilon back, finally he had his friend back, he could forget about Wash and the stupid arrow. He could ignore the hollow feeling in his stomach.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Wash couldn’t believe it

The sim troopers were lazy and undertrained and this made them extremely hard to deal with. But- they were becoming something of a new family to him. They had saved his life with no gain of their own except that he we as now stuck with them... But they were stuck with him too. 

He knew better than to like them or get close to any of them so he stayed distant. But these crazy people had so much of a different feel to them than freelancer had. The reds and blues were already enemies and still pretended like it even though they knew the truth... but when it came down to it they still worked together and they did it well. Freelancer had been the opposite- they had worked well together until it became an every man for himself war. 

Wash found himself falling for their bizarre charm. And when Carolina pointed her gun at Tucker, Wash just wouldn't, couldn’t stand for it. She had no right, He had fallen back into following her orders but he didn't forget that she had left him like everyone else had. She wasn't his commanding officer anymore and he would never let her threaten his new family.

That was when he realized he cared for them. Really cared for them and wanted to stay as long as he possibly could. 

In order to do that he avoided everything and everyone when they had been awarded and celebrated for finally taking down Project Freelancer, he was a criminal thought to be dead after all. He thought things would go back to what they had been before Carolina showed up, only Carolina and Epsi-Church would be present. 

But dammit, he should really stop expecting things around these guys cause the next thing he knew the ship taking them home was crashing. And they were stranded. While Carolina and Epsilon left. Again. Leaving him to clean up the mess.

The strangest thing of all was how his arrow would annoyingly tickle and stop on and off for the past couple of months. Maybe his was broken. After Epsilon that wouldn't be surprising. Epsilon showing back up probably brought it on. His arrow got confused because even he hadn't known who he was anymore and now its pull was shot. He paid it no mind anymore and only scratched at it occasionally, but kept it bandaged even under his armor. He still hated the sight of it. 

Then Tucker became insufferable, he didn't understand why he seemed to hate Wash so much. He had thought they were getting along somewhat better, Caboose sure had accepted him. But that wasn't saying much, seeming to prove this point Caboose befriended a giant fighting robot that could kill them all in a second and proceeded to call him Freckles. This only made things ten billion times worse no matter what Caboose said or thought. Wash and Tucker only argued more.

'All I wanna do is hang around and talk to my friend. But now he's gone and now all I have is you!' 

Wash had no idea why this hurt so much but it did. It really did. He thought he was going to throw up, and he did later. He understood. He wasn't a part of their family. He had barely been their friend. Just another CO to put up with. Tucker wanted to go back to before freelancer fucked everything up, as seemed to be its special talent. 

So Wash decided he would make it up to them, his teammates. He helped out Caboose, apologized and made him the helmet he had first met him in, and he and tucker almost fixed the tower but only got in touch with... Donut? Oh no, the pink one. Wash’s guilt only increased. 

Shit went slightly downhill and Donut and Doc (the purple one?) showed up but it seemed like things were looking up after Caboose game him the leadership position back and... Called him a friend. Wash smiled for the first time in a while.

But as per usual with good things in his life, it didn't last long. The Felix guy came and they were attacked and he couldn't let anyone else die. That was all he knew. 

No matter his own opposition to soulmates, he had overheard that Grif and Simmons were each other's and he felt like he needed them to live. Caboose was too optimistic and despite his flaws…his many, many flaws, it was good for the universe to have him in it. He'd heard Sarge get shot so he was down but he was tough, he would pull through. Wash was genuinely sorry about Donut and wrapping him in this and probably killing him (again). But when he looked around and saw Tucker standing at the cave entrance about to be overrun by Feds and calling for Wash, he knew he needed to force him to leave and block off the path. 

Tucker was... He had a strange association in Wash’s mind. Wash tried so hard to befriend him but he seemed so bitter about something until recently when Wash began overly expressing his concern for him. And Caboose. Tucker and Caboose and the reds kind of. 

Tucker was viewed in a light in Wash’s mind that Wash had never dealt with before and therefore could not identify. He just knew he needed safety for the smart mouthed, passionate, fatherly, potential ridden, talented, charming, attractive- oh. Wash obviously didn't have time to actually think about or realize any of these things until after he did it, but he knew them when he looked around and screamed 'Freckles! Shake!' And passed out, knocked unconscious by an unseen force. Wash went down smiling.


	3. Point Where?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> last chapter, i gladly put off an essay to finish this  
> thanks for hangin with me these past couple days while i procrastinate  
> its been real  
> oh! also as i went further into this..like closer to 'present', i got more and more detailed- as you'll notice with the difference in detail from the previous chapters with this one

Waaaash! 

The last thing Tucker remembered was screaming before he was wacked with a rock to the chest and head. He wasn't happy when he woke up and heard the news of what happened from the others in the med bay. Great. AND he had to lead a stupid group of kids... Probably to their deaths. And the Felix guy really didn't help. Tucker really didn't have or allow himself time to think until he was alone in his bed, Caboose snoring from across the room. It was a welcoming familiar sound. 

And it helped cover the sniffles and muffled sobs he breathed into his pillow. Thank god Caboose was a heavy sleeper.

Goddamn that stupid, paranoid, martyring bastard. It was almost like Church all over again, but when Wash died Tucker was actually upset about it.

He had been acting like such a child, throwing a hissy fit and being in a bad mood because he wasn’t getting what he wanted. Which was to go home with Junior and forget about this whole mess, or go back to Valhalla or back to Blood Gulch and just go back to normal. But they had to crash, and instead of letting him wallow Wash was working them extra hard for what seemed like no reason besides he liked to see them suffer. 

Well, Caboose didn’t actually seem to mind. Just distracted with his new project and before that upset about Church leaving again. It had gotten to the point where Tucker couldn’t complain about it too cause Caboose was so upset about it. And this just made Tucker crankier. 

He blew up at Wash, the only person he really had beef with. It was his fault he woke every day feeling dejected and dreading the day, not just because he would have to run leg day but because he was going to have suffer being stuck in even closer proximity with his soulmate but hide it and not pursue it cause it would only cause more problems.

It was even easier when he knew Wash was his soulmate but he didn’t quite know the guy enough and he could kind of hate him. But then he had to start falling for the guy and his dorky cryptic ways. That just made it worse. 

Then they were attacked and Tucker had no time. No time to check up on Wash, no time to help anyone, no time to apologize. He had to just watch from the cave while he called for Wash who miraculously stood up and Please God he’s okay, let him make it over here there’s still time. Screw Felix and what he was saying about hurrying up, he was about to step out to get Wash when his heart froze.

Those two words and he had lost another person he cared about, another leader, another friend. Wash probably thought Tucker hated him and was going to die thinking that.  
Tucker punched the bed. Another sob bursting from his throat. The last time he cried like this was when Junior left to go back to Sanghelios. He had no idea when he’d ever see his son again, IF he ever saw him again.

Goddammit, all of his family left him. They always had and it seemed like they always will. Tucker sobbed harder, he hadn’t noticed the snores had ceased, or that a large figure was walking toward his bed. 

He was startled by the hand that reached out and gently shook his shoulder, but he quickly wiped the snot and tears from his face. He was thankful for the darkness of the room and he steadied his voice ready to reassure Caboose after one of his nightmares.

He wasn’t ready to be engulfed in a bear hug by the big oaf who claimed to dislike Tucker at every turn. When he started rubbing Tucker’s back and sat on the bed, the dam broke and he let out all the guilt and heartbreak and loneliness he’d been bottling up for so long. 

The next day Tucker became the leader of all the special troops, not just his own. After hearing that their teammates and leaders were still alive, Tucker and the others grew determined to get them back. 

Tucker looked at his arrow for the first time in weeks and was gazing in that direction. He came up with plan after plan to take down Felix, he made the troops run Wash’s drills while running them himself in his downtime. By downtime he meant any time of the night besides the hour(s) he slept. 

The pressure began getting to all of them. Grif was going Sarge-crazy and Simmons was worried for him. Tucker thought he was going to crack, as everyone was looking to him for answers and he looked around to find ono one he could look too. He got advice from Felix and Kimball, and what a morale killer that was. Your best isn’t good enough and you’re killing people weren’t too amazing of motivators.

He had already killed two people, kids, and as annoying as Palomo was, he had a future- an arrow, he Tucker heard, pointing toward a certain lisping girl from Simmons’ team. 

Now that they knew where Wash and the others were being held, he just needed to go there. Once there, his arrow would point him in the right direction. Maybe he could do it alone? He was going to get kids killed no matter if he stayed or if he went, and there was a chance Wash would be able to better save them if he was there so he made his decision. He would save Wash if it killed him, and he kind of expected it to.

Grif, Simmons, and Caboose bless the bastards, wouldn’t let him go alone. So they left a note and left without a single goodbye. They’d be back.

They got there, miraculously got in thanks to Caboose and were undetected thanks to Grif. Suddenly they were face to face with them. Tucker forgot to breathe. Wash looked okay, and unhurt, as did everyone else. But what they said only added to the alarm-blaring confusion. They hadn’t been captives, they’d thought they needed to be rescued from the Republic.

Suddenly they were reunited and trapped and tricked and were about to die. The true enemy was finally revealed. Just as Tucker prepared himself to die while also whispering curses at Felix, Carolina showed up and saved them. Neither Kimball nor Doyle knew it was all a set up and Tucker thought of Palomo and the others again who would die in the next firefight unless they did something.

Don’t get him wrong, Tucker was fucking pissed off at Church, of course he was! But he got over that quickly. He should have come to expect that from the asshole. They were all safe now and the crazy doctor lady had fixed them all up. 

There was no time to relax what with the mercs and pirates trying to track them down. And succeeding thanks to Wash and Freckles’ chip having a tracker on it. Carolina was pissed as hell and Wash took it super hard. Tucker didn’t think he deserved that, the happiness it had brought Caboose was definitely worth it. 

They were given an ultimatum and a chance to leave and all of the plans Church came up with gave a twisting feeling to Tucker’s stomach. Wash’s plan was even worse. So he came up with a plan to save everyone and expose Felix and Locus. 

It went off without a hitch and Tucker believed that Wash and Carolina were more than capable of distracting Locus while Felix had his tiff with Tucker. Holy shit did Felix love to talk. Tucker had never been gladder to hear his voice, or more impressed with the others with how well they worked. Church recorded the footage but then Felix blew up the others and Tucker ran straight into Felix’s blade. 

That fucking hurt.

But the recording was sent and when they ran away with their tails between their legs was so satisfying. The capital was informed and livers were saved. Tucker could let the pain of the stab wound overcome him knowing he’d be in safe hands.

Waking up to Palomo crying was annoying but Tucker was beyond grateful that he was alive, as were the other three. But he had to act normal and so he told Palomo to shut up. And Wash was there, rubbing the back of his head from an injury. But then he looked over at Tucker and gave a little wave. Tucker smiled back at him and closed his eyes and laid back down, he fell asleep to the soothing sounds of Palomo’s sobs.

They declared war on Charon and the capital became almost domestic. Tucker couldn’t let go of his habits of almost obsessively working out and rarely sleeping. He was so unbelievably glad for the normalcy that seemed to have fallen over the city. Sarge was back to harassing Grif who was being lazy again and teasing Simmons who was kiss-assing again. Wash and Carolina had taken back over as leaders. Leaving Tucker with a lot less responsibility and more time. That he filled with more training.

One morning, early, early in the morning, Tucker was at the punching bags when he heard footsteps behind him. He wasn’t paranoid enough yet to immediately attack the newcomer, but he did stop and look down to start taking off his bandages. Assuming it was Kimball come again to tell him to sleep, he rolled his eyes and looked up. But froze when he saw Wash standing there, arms crossed and a small smirk on his face.

Tucker gaped for a second before looking down at his arms and seeing his exposed arrow, which he quickly covered back up with the bandages. But it was too late, Wash had seen it when he looked down.

Wash stalked forward and asked about it. He’d apparently never seen one with a bright color, as everyone he knew had a black or dark colored arrow. Tucker chuckled nervously and joked about Wash never seeing someone with darker skin. Luckily, Tucker avoided uncovering it and Wash looked at him with understanding. They’d only spoken about them once before, but Tucker had been perfectly fine with talking about it then. Wash wanted to know what had happened since then.

Tucker simply shook his head and said that his soulmate was complicated and someone out of the question. That he could never be with the person and the person would never want to be with him, so he tried to forget the stupid thing was even there. 

Then a thought entered his mind and left through his mouth so fast he couldn’t stop it. Tucker asked to see Wash’s arrow. He grimaced. Tucker had honest to God not meant to bring up Wash’s, and if Wash found out Tucker was his…he didn’t know what would happen. He was afraid Wash would avoid him or leave, and Tucker would rather suffer by Wash’s side than have him gone forever. 

Tucker had just had an overwhelming urge to see his soulmate’s arrow, see it pointing at him and see its color and touch it to see it was real. To his surprise, Wash began unwrapping his arm. Tucker’s breath hitched, but as the color began to show Wash turned his head and closed his eyes as the rest was revealed. 

It was small, only slightly bigger than a quarter, and it was a deep dark brown, and best of all it was pointing straight at Tucker. Tucker dared not move anywhere but straight, he reached out a hand and asked if he could touch it. 

With a nod from Wash, Tucker held his arm and placed his thumbs on it. After a few seconds of staring Tucker grabbed the bandages and wrapped it back up. 

Tucker coughed and asked if all Wash came to do was harass him about his soulmate? The smile came back to his face and he admitted to actually coming in to work out, but since he was there he asked Tucker how his wound was?

Tucker joked that if he couldn’t take a little stab wound then his mom would be ashamed of him. He’d endured worse and he was sure that he would survive worse in the future. Wash just laughed and clapped Tucker on the back saying that he hoped not. 

Tucker glanced back at Wash as he left, something was different since he came back. He began absent mindedly rubbing at his own small tickling arrow. He was actually kind of glad, for the first time, that despite the tickles without seeing the arrow you had no idea where it was pointing. 

In the shower Tucker traced his bright yellow arrow pointed toward the gym while thinking about the man it was pointed at. Since the Fed and Republic soldiers joined forces he had been acting…lighter. More open and less completely paranoid and insufferable, more comfortable and faster to smile or joke. Tucker smiled absentmindedly. Things were in a good place at the time.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

Wash had no idea why Tucker had wanted to look at his arrow, although I guess when the topic came up everyone wanted to see everyone else’s. He had always thought his arrow was the ugliest color in comparison to York’s dark green or his sister’s navy blue. But recently whenever he caught a little glimpse of the chocolate brown, he thought it a rich, full color. 

Maybe he could start uncovering it, just to see the color. He could ignore anyone around if he could just stare at the ticklish moving brown for its unique color. He liked the contrast of yellow on Tucker’s skin and wondered briefly who would be so complicated for someone like Tucker to avoid them. Tucker seemed like such a romantic, Wash would have guessed he’d follow the arrow to the ends of the earth to find them.  
Wash punched the bag a little too hard and let out a tiny yelp. 

Since when did he care about soulmate arrows? He couldn’t care less about his own, let alone someone else’s. But then, this was Tucker. He seemed to be surprising Wash at every turn. Come to think of it, he had been shocked to see Tucker down there working out. Maybe something had happened recently? He made a mental note to check in with Kimball.  
Wash checked the clock and wiped the sweat off his face with his shirt. He was just in time for breakfast. 

When he reached the dining hall, he was shocked to see Kimball stood in front of the door giving a lecture. Some of the food had gone missing, and upon closer inspection Wash noticed a lack of a few orange soldiers. Once Kimball was finished lecturing, she allowed everyone to flood the hall and chow down.

Wash didn’t see Tucker for the rest of the day and with the weight of being in charge of training the soldiers and talking strategy with Carolina, he forgot to consult Kimball. He did, however, pull Grif aside when he was the only one left running (walking) laps to tell him that if he put as much effort into anything else as he did covert food-stealing missions he wouldn’t have to suffer these laps. 

It wasn’t until a few days later that Wash let himself sit atop a roof, sans armor and unwrap his arm. He saw, for the first time in years, the dark arrow move slowly around along its circle. He put his arm down and sighed and just looked out into the area where crowds of people were walking. He spotted bright aqua- armor walking backwards while using animated hand gestures as he talked to maroon and orange- armor. 

Wash glanced at Tucker’s covered wrist and then toward Grif and Simmons’, where he noticed the two were holding hands. It seemed that everyone was enjoying the peaceful atmosphere that surrounded the capital. 

Wash brought his arm up again and touched the moving brown arrow that was pointed out toward the area. Suddenly, he had the urge to try finding who the arrow was pointing at. He had an inner debate about it. He had spent his whole life hating the stupid arrow, and suddenly after looking at it for less than ten minutes he wanted to change all that? Wash sighed and concluded that he would look but that didn’t mean he had to do anything about it. Besides, it could be a fluke, and Epsilon really had messed it up and it wasn’t even pointing at anyone.

As he looked down Wash had a sudden heart stopping moment when he thought about it pointing to Locus in the distance or something. His thoughts were interrupted by a shout from below, he looked up to see Tucker waving happily toward him and Wash gave a small wave back. He looked back down at his arrow to see it pointing straight at the aqua sim trooper. It had even stopped when he stopped and started back up, following him as he parted ways from the reds and he entered a door leading to their rooms.

Wash was frozen for a good couple of minutes as he watched the arrow follow the object of his deeply suppressed pining.

That couldn’t be right. Tucker couldn’t be… He would have told… Wash flashed back to the first time they had ever discussed the arrows and how he had spoken with such disdain for his own arrow and the person it pointed toward.

There was a sinking feeling in his stomach and Wash gulped. Of all the people, Wash had to admit he was beyond thrilled, his heart was fluttering and he could hardly process the situation. 

He had to do something, say something. But could he? Tucker seemed to be so bitter about it. He decided to give it a few days, as he still wasn’t even sure if it wasn’t just a stupid fluke. 

The next few days were hell, full of moments where he would just run to the side whenever he saw Tucker nearby and check if it still followed him. It did. He felt for the tickle when Tucker moved. It got to the point where he was actually avoiding Tucker to check.

In these few days, he also noticed how the color of his arrow reminded him of Tucker’s eyes and holy shit had he fallen hard. He became so distracted that he let Grif get away with not doing proper laps and Caboose got ahold of a pistol. Luckily there were no casualties and only three people were left with minor injuries. By the time a week went by he was surprised Carolina hadn’t shot him herself. 

But then Wash found himself traveling toward the showers at 3am, he heard water running and he almost turned around. But the door had made a loud thud behind him and Tucker came peaking around the corner, still dressed save for his shirt. Wash used his hand to cover his arrow. 

Suddenly he remembered that Tucker had seen his arrow. Tucker definitely knew he was Wash’s soulmate, no doubt about it. 

Wash threw off his shoes and socks, effectively freaking Tucker out, but there was water on the floor. Tucker hesitated and asked if he was okay. Said that he’d been acting weird for the past couple of days. 

Wash told Tucker that he needed to see his arrow. That he needed to be sure. Tucker frowned but sighed and offered up his arm when Wash reached him. Wash raised his own uncovered arm to show Tucker while he looked at the beautifully contrasting yellow on dark skin pointing straight toward him. Wash even moved side to side while watching it to make sure. 

Tucker’s eyes were cold and trained on Wash’s own arrow fixated on him. Wash looked at Tucker, at his eyes mentally comparing the color with the color on his arm, when Tucker spoke up again. He tried explaining that he didn’t have to do anything about it and that he was perfectly fine covering and ignoring the arrow if Wash didn’t want-  
Wash didn’t want to hear anymore, so he shoved Tucker against the wall and for a split second he saw the look of hurt and heard a small whimper from his soulmate, before he pressed his lips against the other’s. It effectively shut the both of them up, until Tucker started moaning and kissing back. 

When they parted Tucker asked what made him change his mind about the soul mark, and Wash asked how it felt to know who his soulmate was but not do anything about it. That Wash could barely stand a week of the shitty feeling and the fact that Tucker had kept it to himself for years for Wash’s sake was just another reason on the long list of why he loved Tucker. Had loved him for so long, but couldn’t put the pieces together until recently. 

Tucker smirked and asked if it had been his chaffing nipples or the sleeping naked. Wash only rolled his eyes and kissed him again. Tucker moved one of his hands to run through Wash’s hair and the other clung around Wash’s neck and Wash’s hands wandered over Tucker’s naked torso until they landed on his hips. Wash gripped Tucker’s hips and lifted him up and Tucker wrapped his legs around Wash’s waist. 

Wash started to go for Tucker’s loose sweatpants but was stopped when Tucker loosened his legs and hopped down. He turned off the shower, grabbed his bag and walked to the door after picking up Wash’s shoes. He looked back at Wash who was disoriented and confused, and he hooked is finger in a ‘come here’ motion. 

Wash tripped at least twice just on his way to the door of the showers. Tucker couldn’t help but laugh but then shushed Wash and covered his own mouth. They were barely able to make it to Wash’s room, which he thankfully had to himself unlike Tucker who shared with Caboose. 

They shut the door softy but then Wash was shoved against his door and his shirt was maneuvered off. Wash backed Tucker onto the bed and straddled him, he started kissing down his neck and he let his hands move to rub at Tucker’s nipples. 

It had an even better effect than he expected. He moved Tucker down to start licking at one of his nipples while still playing with the other. Tucker let out a loud moan and Wash smirked but unlatched himself, giving Tucker the chance to flip their positions. 

Wash greeted with a beautiful site of Tucker panting, pupils blown wide, and staring into Wash’s own with so much emotion, Wash felt his heart swell. Tucker asked if Wash was sure he wanted him, that he wanted this. Wash brought his hands up to cup Tucker’s face and told him he was positive and that he’d already been in love with Tucker and the arrow had just given him the incentive. 

Tucker smiled and leaned down to gently kiss Wash, it was slow and deep and so full of love Wash had no idea how much time passed and the only thing he could feel or think was Tucker. 

For the night the both of them forgot any and all problems and just focus on each other and finally finding each other. 

Once they were lying with each other, enjoying the afterglow and talking Wash voiced a thought about how he wondered if that was how Grif and Simmons felt when they found each other. And if they would keep feeling this way. Tucker joked that no one was like Grif and Simmons and their nerdy fighting old- couply ways, but they would have their own thing.

Soon they fell asleep. They were congratulated the next day and ruthlessly teased but neither were shy. Neither covered their arrows ever again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for the Caboose and Tucker room scene, i was actually inspired by another fic which i dont remember the name of but you'll probably know it if you've read it. it was a part of the fic that always got to me and i really wanted to incorporate something like it in my work
> 
> i also kind of want to play a drinking game when it comes to the fanfiction tropes in this fic
> 
> oh and its rated G so i didnt want to put in a sex scene, plus i am new at this so i am not sure if i would be competent in writing one anyway  
> i actually felt like i was pushing it here but also wanted to be able to get across to you guys the feelings being experienced
> 
> bleh  
> yall rule

**Author's Note:**

> While I procrastinate homework and have writer's block for my other fic, I wrote this in my 'free' time  
> I've always liked soulmate au's


End file.
